If you’re not excited about the Paul George signing because of concerns about how the contract will look a few years down the road, or just because the Philadelphia 76ers have hurt you too many times in the past, let me illustrate how much worse things could be.
Your franchise could owe $65 million to someone not to coach the team.
The team could have won no more than 23 games in any of the past five seasons, but picked no higher than fifth overall in any of the past three drafts.
Your team could have just signed Tobias Harris for two years, $52 million.
Sorry, Detroit Pistons fans.
Of note, the second year is fully guaranteed with no option.
For a long time, Tobias Harris ending up in Detroit was a running joke here at Liberty Ballers and seemed set in stone. But when the franchise parted ways with general manager Troy Weaver at the end of May and hired Trajan Langdon, I really thought that ship sailed. Now, the thinking was, they would assuredly be wiser with the cap space. Langdon even said the right things about using it to take on unwanted contracts to acquire assets. The trade to bring in Tim Hardaway Jr. from Dallas in exchange for three second-round picks seemed like a step in that direction, although if you are high on Quentin Grimes you still may not have liked the trade. Unfortunately for Pistons fans, the Harris connection to Detroit, where he previously played parts of three seasons, remained too strong.
I mean, who was really bidding against Detroit here for Tobias that could offer $26 million per year? Utah’s Danny Ainge is too smart for something like this. At the very least, how do you not make the second year a team option so it could be viewed as essentially a potentially useful, large expiring contract at the trade deadline, should you desire?
To look at the other side for a moment, Harris is a good locker room presence. I’m sure there’s some value in his teaching the young guys how a 401(k) works and starting a book club. He’s also durable, having played in at least 70 games in each of the last nine seasons (excepting the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season). He’ll probably average 18 per game with decent percentages and there will be some analytic showing Tobias is worth the money that Torrel Harris can use for his powerpoint presentation the next time a contract negotiation rolls around.
But as anyone who watched the Sixers in recent years knows, for every 25-point game Harris has, there will be a few where he’s just out there getting cardio (and not even hard cardio, but the sort of cardio where you’re interested in paying attention to the ball game that’s on the treadmill so you set it to 70 percent speed). Tobias may be able to teach the young guys some good lessons off the court, but he’s teaching them on the court that you can go five years without drawing a charge (officially) or grabbing a contested loose ball (unofficially, but I’m sure there weren’t many), and still get paid.
I hold no personal animosity towards Tobias Harris and I’m sure some of that money will generously go towards worthwhile charitable endeavors. But, I sure am glad to be out of the Tobias Harris business and I’m shocked that another franchise was this eager to sign up for it.
